Roth spoke to The Post about diving with tiger sharks and why he feels sharks are the ocean’s most misunderstood creatures.

Do sharks get a bad rap?

Let’s think about that. How else are we getting information about sharks? We only know sharks from movies like “Jaws” or when a shark bites someone. Otherwise, the only way you’ll ever get to know a shark is to get in the water with it — and most of the population is not going to do that. When I took people [shark] diving the change in them was literally instantaneous — the second you’re in the water and look [a shark] in the eye, there’s no interest on their part; they’re peaceful, curious animals who are highly intelligent and very shy. It’s not like what you see in the news or in movies.

They’re peaceful, curious animals who are highly intelligent and very shy. It’s not like what you see in the news or in movies.

- 'Shark After Dark' host Eli Roth

So few people have had an experience with a shark. Yes, there are cases where [shark bites] happen, but only six people die, worldwide, each year and there are 100 million sharks killed each year [for their fins, considered a delicacy in some parts of the world]. Sharks are incredibly endangered; their function is to keep the ocean clean of disease and they only eat sick or diseased fish. People survive shark bites because the shark truly doesn’t want to eat them. They don’t have hands — they investigate with their teeth. Shark attacks are often near a pier where people are fishing or someone is chumming the water and trying to catch a fish [and] the shark thinks it’s … taking a bite of a fish.

What is it about sharks that interests you?

I love sharks and I’ve always been fascinated by them. I feel like I’m the “Shark Whisperer,” and they like me. When I’m scratching one on its nose or holding one in my hand, they’re really gentle, sweet creatures, beautiful and fascinating. We don’t matter to them when we’re down there [in the ocean]. I went diving with tiger sharks in Tahiti and didn’t know what to expect. They’re wild animals. But a tiger shark showed up and this girl [shark] just circles us. She could’ve bitten me in half if she wanted to but she was cautiously investigating. I’d never been close to anything that size — it was like being next to a dinosaur.

As a guy who makes horror movies, do you see the appeal of sharks?

Yeah, of course. They’re one of the last creatures on Earth than can eat us. Sharks represent a loss of control in the water and … I think that’s what makes it fun for horror movies.

Why are you a shark advocate?

I’ve talked to shark experts and I’m like, “Am I crazy or are these far more like dogs than anybody realizes?” Nobody knows that sharks are endangered: 200,000 sharks a day have their fins sliced off … and I’ve been told that the makeup industry uses shark liver in its products. There are a lot of underground fishing boats where they slice off the [shark] fins and throw the creatures back in — it’s sickening. The way a shark moves is with water flowing through its gills for propulsion. It has to be moving to breathe; if it stops moving it dies. Slicing off its fins is incredibly painful and it bleeds out and drowns.